January 7, 2014

If you’ve been thinking about getting into 3D printing, the compact MakerBot Replicator Mini 3D printer, just introduced at CES, could make it easy and affordable at $1,375 (available spring 2014).

It’s limited to printing objects around 4 x 4 x 4 inches, but the company claims it’s easy to use, with no 3D skills needed. You can download models from the free MakerBot Printshop and Thingverse,… read more

January 6, 2014

Meiji University professor Hiroshi Nagashima is creating chimeric pigs, which carry genetic material from two different species, BBC News reports. It starts off by making what Nagashima calls “a-pancreatic” embryos. Inside the white pig embryo, the gene that carries the instructions for developing the animal’s pancreas has been “switched off.”

The Japanese team then introduces stem cells from a black pig into the embryo. What they have… read more

January 6, 2014

Open collaboration — which has brought the world Bitcoin, TEDx and Wikipedia — is likely to lead to new organizations that are not quite non-profits and not quite corporations, according to a paper by Sheen S. Levine of Columbia University and Michael J. Prietula of Emory University published in the journal Organization Science.

The authors define open collaboration as “any system of innovation or production that relies on goal-oriented yet… read more

January 6, 2014

A new system developed by researchers at five institutions, including MIT, could eliminate many limitations in methods to develop detectors that are responsive to a broad range of infrared light. Such detectors could form sensitive imaging arrays for security systems, for example.

The new system works at room temperature and provides a broad infrared response, says associate professor of mechanical engineering Tonio Buonassisi.

January 6, 2014

In the search for cheaper materials that mimic their purer, more expensive counterparts, researchers are abandoning hunches and intuition for theoretical models and pure computing power.

In a new study, researchers from Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering used computational methods to identify dozens of platinum-group alloys that were previously unknown to science but could prove beneficial in a wide range of applications.

January 6, 2014

Self-driving vehicles offer the promise of significant benefits to society, but raise several policy challenges, including the need to update insurance liability regulations and privacy concerns such as who will control the data generated by this technology, according to a new RAND Corporationstudy.

“Our research finds that the social benefits of autonomous vehicles — including decreased crashes, increased mobility and increases… read more

Computer algorithm developed by TAU researchers identifies genes that could be transformed to stop the aging process

January 3, 2014

Tel Aviv University researchers have developed a computer algorithm that predicts which genes can be “turned off” to create the same anti-aging effect as calorie restriction*. The findings, reported in Nature Communications, could lead to the development of new drugs to treat aging.

New IHS Automotive study forecasts nearly 12 million yearly self-driving cars sales and almost 54 million in use on global highways by 2035

January 3, 2014

Self-driving cars (SDC) that include driver control are expected to hit highways around the globe before 2025 and self-driving “only” cars (only the car drives) are anticipated around 2030, according to an emerging technologies study on Autonomous Cars from IHS Automotive.

In the study, “Emerging Technologies: Autonomous Cars — Not If, But When,” IHS Automotive forecasts total worldwide sales of self-driving cars will grow from nearly 230… read more

January 3, 2014

Is this device above — part of a quantum-computing research project at the Laboratory for Physical Sciences in Maryland — the core of a future NSA quantum computer for cracking nearly every kind of encryption used to protect banking, medical, business and government records around the world?

According to documents provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, the effort to build “a cryptologically useful quantum computer” is part… read more

January 2, 2014

An entirely new approach to measuring body temperature — an ”electronic skin” that adheres non-invasively to human skin, conforms well to contours, and provides a detailed temperature map of any surface of the body — has been developed by an international multidisciplinary team including researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign and the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB).

January 2, 2014

Two teams of scientists using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope report they have characterized the atmospheres of a pair of planets with masses intermediate between gas giants, like Jupiter, and smaller, rockier planets, like Earth.

A survey by NASA’s Kepler space telescope mission previously showed that objects in this size range are among the most common type of planets in our Milky Way galaxy. The researchers described their… read more

One portable device able to screen up to 200,000 people per year, operated by non-medical personnel

January 2, 2014

Rice University researchers have developed a noninvasive technology that accurately detects even a single malaria-infected cell among a million normal cells through the skin in seconds with a laser scanner.

The “vapor nanobubble” technology requires no dyes or diagnostic chemicals, there is no need to draw blood, and there are zero false-positive readings.

The diagnosis and screening will be supported by a low-cost, battery-powered portable device that… read more

January 1, 2014

New research published online first in the Jan. 1 Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that alpha tocepherol (fat-soluble Vitamin E and antioxidant), may slow functional decline — problems with daily activities such as shopping, preparing meals, planning, and traveling — in patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s disease and decrease caregiver burden.

Vitamin E did not show delay of cognitive or memory deterioration in the research.